Headlight restoration - best products

[strath44]

Right, I’m losing to much of my life to choosing a restoration product for my 996 headlights, they are pretty bad - dull and yellow pretty sure an mot failure!

I like the convenience of a kit and have watched many reviews, the autoglym kit looks the best but has no sealant / protector and the holts one looks pretty good.

Any input appreciated!

[sam.rog]

I used t cut and a cloth. Then a coat of wax. Seems to last ok as long as the wax is topped up. Plus it was free as I had the stuff.
To be a permanent solution you need to spray the with uv resistant lacker.

[whytheory]

sam.rog said:

I used t cut and a cloth. Then a coat of wax. Seems to last ok as long as the wax is topped up. Plus it was free as I had the stuff.
To be a permanent solution you need to spray the with uv resistant lacker.

Yeah I've heard cutting compound works just as well as the kits, if you already have it, also seen Ceramic Coating recommended as a good way to make it last but it's expensive stuff so haven't tried myself yet.

I used a turtle wax kit years ago and got decent results on a similarly bad headlight, I wasn't massively impressed, but it did get it more than good enough for MOT.

[aka_kerrly]

TBH how you apply the product has more of an impact. If you are using a small 3or4inch pad on a DA /rotary you can get better results than by hand.

[dontlookdown]

dontlookdown said:

I used a 3M kit to do headlights on one of my old cars (not Porsche). They were worse than that. Process was 300 grade wetndry, 600 grade wetndry, cutting compound, water based acrylic sealer to finish.

The kit was quite pricey for a small amount of product but the results were v good. Masking off paint carefully is essential. The sealer lasts much longer than wax which you need to keep reapplying to avoid the plastic quickly going yellow again.

You can get excellent results by hand, no need for a DA sander it just takes a little longer. Took me about 30mins per side as I recall.

If I was doing it again I would not bother with a kit just wetndry, t-cut and sealer.

[steveo3002]

2k clear coat once sanded , if you dont fancy diy see if someone will do it

its the same clear as used on the body , will offer some uv protection vs polishing them

[strath44]

Thanks folks, I’ll let you know what route I go!!!

[mikeyr]

Used the autoglym pack as was on offer and restored some headlights on a 20 year old vehicle (starting from similar level to your picture). Works great, just be aware that it's important to set the drill speed at low.

Just commit to any of the kits and it'll be fine I'm sure! Alternatively, groupon sometimes have it on offer from a bodyshop, think it's sometimes just £15 for someone else to do them!

[paintman]

I do the headlights on my Sprinter before the MOT each year.
Not a lot different in appearance to the OP's
Machine polisher and Farecla G3.
Takes about a minute a side to go from yellowy to clear and the residue on the mop is quite yellow.
I might try the 2k clear suggestion.

Edited by paintman on Wednesday 20th October 17:46

[Darlo 1]

One of two headlights that i did with 2k laquer, was quite faded when i started, my cousins car, he's very pleased with the results.

Edited by Darlo 1 on Thursday 28th October 20:15

[Ian-8bdsj]

Darlo 1 - what grade wet n dry do you use before the 2k clear coat? Thanks

[steveo3002]

dont go any finer than 800 wet...you need a good key

[Darlo 1]

Ian-8bdsj said:

Darlo 1 - what grade wet n dry do you use before the 2k clear coat? Thanks

Used 600 and 800 grit on a random orbital sander then 1000 grit done by hand then two coats of 2k clear coat.

[Ian-8bdsj]

Thankyou

[51mes]

Toothpaste and a brush does work - and leaves a minty fresh smell ...

T cut was probably a little better...

[roscopervis]

There’s a kit in Aldi at the moment for £4.99, which includes the applicable sandpaper, polish and UV protectant sealant. Given how bad I’ve seen Meguiars kit has been for the £25 that cost, the Aldi kit is a no brainier.

[strath44]

Hi folks, thanks for all the replies. I ended up getting a kit I liked the look of from eBay under the name flexipads about £23.
It was very easy to use and came with 800 / 1000 / 1500 grit disks. I also bought 600 and 2000 as I felt I wanted to refine and it was very faded.
Excellent piece of kit and would highly recommend - results speak for themselves. I felt I didn’t sand enough on one stage and could have maybe had slightly less swirls but overall very happy. Also comes with a uv protectant which was an attraction.

[Shooter McGavin]

mikeyr said:

Used the autoglym pack as was on offer and restored some headlights on a 20 year old vehicle (starting from similar level to your picture). Works great, just be aware that it's important to set the drill speed at low.

Just commit to any of the kits and it'll be fine I'm sure! Alternatively, groupon sometimes have it on offer from a bodyshop, think it's sometimes just £15 for someone else to do them!

From my experience with one of these kits yesterday I can only endorse how important this bit is, I went in at too fast a setting on my wife's mumtruck and have caused a bit of damage on one headlight. Hopefully it will get through the MOT, otherwise I'm throwing myself at eBay for the least crap used one.

[CA.Detailing]

Here's what I used to restore my headlight on my Toyota Prius
Koch Chemie P6.01 One Cut & Finish
Polisher Machine
CA Detailing Microfiber Cloths for wiping.
Sandpaper with a 2000 grit as the headlights were heavily oxidised
CarPro Perl for a finishing coat to protect the restored headlight from UV damage

[mikeyr]

Shooter McGavin said:

From my experience with one of these kits yesterday I can only endorse how important this bit is, I went in at too fast a setting on my wife's mumtruck and have caused a bit of damage on one headlight. Hopefully it will get through the MOT, otherwise I'm throwing myself at eBay for the least crap used one.

Indeed, i managed to leave some nasty little burn marks on an otherwise decent job. thankfully not on a nice car!